My daughters explain how to preserve your bananas and more in the video above.
Betsy: Welcome to the 2nd video in our "Fruit in Our Yard" series.
By the way, our yard is in the charming beach town of Puerto Armuelles, Panama.
We are producing these videos in alphabetic order.
Join us as my daughters show you the Bananas In Our Yard.
[I'm Betsy from Living in Panama, the place for information and advice on being an expat in Panama. Interested? Click subscribe, and hit the bell. So you don't miss a video.]
Skylar: These are the bananas in our yard. They're a little past their prime on the tree.
We've been picking them slowly.
Normally, if you wanted to preserve the entire bunch and ripen them at your leisure, you would chop it here and hang it from a sort of a rafter or any high place you have. Then put a bag around it to protect it from the birds that might want to get at it before you.
Blaise: And what you can also do is, you can leave actually them on the tree and get some mesh bags to cover it.
And as you can see, some ripen at different times.
These are very small, just starting. These are green and these towards the top get more sun and are ripe. Like here, they are ready on this side.
Skylar: Yes. These here have been all picked and some of them have been eaten by birds.
Blaise: Like these and that.
Skylar: This is what happens when you don't preserve the bunch. So if you wanted to preserve it, as we said, you put a mesh bag around, either on the tree, or take it off and hang it somewhere for it to ripen.
[Note: you can use plastic or any other opaque bag to cover ripening bananas in order to keep birds from eating them.]
They usually ripen better off the tree actually.
Blaise: And we can show you one is still green. It has not been covered, over in our front yard.
Skylar: Okay, so this is across the yard from the earlier bananas that we showed you. But these are not quite ready to be picked or even for the birds to want them.
It's quite a beautiful bunch, honestly.
Blaise: As you can see, up there, it is starting to ripen a little bit on the higher branches.
Betsy: Where? Oh, yeah.
Blaise: You can see a little yellow. And so that is normally the time you should probably start bagging.
Actually, if you remove some of the leaves above it, it can help it as well.
Betsy: Help it what?
Skylar: Ripen more quickly of course.
Blaise: And grow.
Skylar: Yeah.
Blaise: And in the next video we'll probably be showing you how to use bananas and plantains in dishes.
Skylar: Yes, how to cook your bananas or plantains - for beginners.
Skylar & Blaise: Bye. Thank you for watching. Subscribe. And like. And share with anyone who might be interested. And click the notification bell. Have fun.
Betsy: Please click the link below for more information about Puerto Armuelles. Thanks for watching.
Our next "Fruit In Our Yard" video will feature the cashew tree.
So instead of one long video, we are making 13 short ones.
We are producing the videos in them in alphabetical order, as follows.
(1) Almonds, 2) Bananas, 3) Cashews, 4) Coconuts, 5) Crioyos (native orange) 6) Eucalyptus (rainbow type - yes, not a fruit, but its leaves are useful), 7) Lemons, 8) Mangos, 9) Maracuya (Passion Fruit), 10) Nance, 11) Papaya, 12) Pineapple, and 13) Plantains. There are many more fruits in Panama, but these are the ones that grow in our yard, or right across the street.
In this 1st video, we celebrate the tropical almond.
Transcription of the video appears further down the page.
True Almond trees do not grow in the tropics. Panama's almond tree (Terminalia catappa) is not related to the true almond tree. True almond trees are the ones that produce the almonds we buy at the store.
The tropical almond tree got its name because its seed pods look like large unshelled almonds plus its seeds/kernels resemble almonds. It also goes by many other names: sea-almond, Indian-almond, false-almond, country-almond, and many more.
However, unlike true almonds, the outside of the fruit is also edible. Plus you don't have to cook the seed to eat it. Both the seeds and the fruit of the tropical almond are edible in the uncooked, raw state,
The tropical almond tree grows by the ocean. The tree can grow in sandy soil and is mildly salt tolerant.
This large, fast-growing tree can reach, on average, 30-55 feet tall. It has large bright green leaves that turn red before falling off. The tree also produces many small, white flowers which develop into fruits. The flower's scent is barely noticeable.
The tree will produce fruit and nuts within 3-5 years. Seasonally, you can harvest up to 11 pounds of nuts (shelled) from a tree.
It is a messy tree. Leaves, fruit, and kernels litter the ground underneath it. This can be a problem because the fruit contains high amounts of tannic acid so it will stain any paving, maybe even your car, if they are under the tree too.
Interestingly, the tree does not attract much wildlife. Some tropical ants like it. Fruit bats eat the husk. And bees are attracted to the blossom, but apparently, have a difficult time making honey from them.
It's all edible. (If you know the movie Rocky Balboa, you may recognize that line.)
The fruit has a pleasant aroma, but is not especially tasty, although it is edible. The fruit ripens from green to yellow to red and has very little pulp, but a very large seed kernel. The husk is corky, thin with green flesh inside.
The ripe husks of the fruit can be eaten raw and are best when young and sweet. Although when the fruit is ripe can vary.
The seeds have an almond or hazelnut flavor.
The waterproof nature of the tree’s wood makes its lumber ideal for canoes.
The leaves and bark are sometimes put in fish tanks to increase water acidity and reduce bacterial infections amongst the tank’s inhabitants.
Medicinally, the tree has had a myriad of uses in folk medicine for everything from sickle cell disorders, leprosy, nausea, diarrhea, and as a contraceptive.
However, there is research that suggests it might be useful in treating high blood pressure. Also, leaf extracts have some anti-diabetic and antioxidant properties.
There is much more fruit in Panama than the 13 we are covering in our "Fruit In Our Yard" video series. But only those 13 fruits grow in our yard.
The following Panama fruit do not grow in our yard (although most of them do grow in our neighborhood): Avocados, Breadfruit, Cacao, Grapefruit, Guanábana, Noni, Mangosteens, Momo chinos, Tamarindo, and more.
Up Next: Bananas. Check out the banana video here.
Betsy: Welcome to the first of our series: Fruit in Our Yard.
We're doing it alphabetically.
We're starting with almonds going through coconuts, lemons, nance, papayas, pineapple, and ending at plantains, and lots and between.
Right today, we're starting with Almonds.
Subscribe Plug: Its Betsy of living in Panama, the place for information and advice on being an expat in Panama. Interested? Click subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss a video.
Skylar: Okay. So this may be cheating a little. It's a little out of our yard.
Betsy: It's across the street.
Skylar: It's across the street, but I think it's very interesting. This is an almond tree.
Blaise: It looks basically like a cashew tree, actually.
Skylar: I didn't know where almonds grew before I came to Panama. But given that I was five, it wasn't that unimpressive.
But yeah. So actually, here is one right now.
Blaise: They grow in little pods.
Blaise & Skylar: They look like this. This is a very under-ripe one.
The ripe ones are fuller and more spotted. Ripe ones are larger, yellower, more even, and they have some brown speckling. And as can see here, this has none. Maybe this one, this has one speckle, but it would be all over it and all these ridges would fill out.
But inside here. It's a little meaty on the inside. Then you have the seed, which is the almond.
Betsy: You should know that with the tropical Almond, both the seed pod and the seed are edible, without any cooking. Although it's quite the endeavor, especially to get the seed out, as the girls mention
Skylar & Blaise: It's pretty straightforward. Although, it might be a little more effort than it's worth than buying a bag. You should just buy 'em. Buy em.
The modern world is wonderful. Don't need these [raw seed pods] anymore. It's just a great tree though.
As you see...
Betsy: Join us next time as we explore the bananas in our yard.
Skylar & Blaise: Thanks for watching. Be sure to like comment, share, subscribe, and click the bell icon if you want notifications.
Betsy: For more information about tropical almonds and life in Panama. Click the link below. See you there.
